Technology for making a condensed mat of glass fiber strands is known in the art. Such technology includes, for example, the Modigliani process. The Modigliani process is generally described in several patents issued to Modigliani, namely, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,546,230; 2,609,320 and 2,964,439. Subsequent improvements and variations of the Modigliani process have been made and are known in the art—many of which are described in patents issued subsequent to the Modigliani patents. The aforementioned patents and improvements generally involve a melting furnace feeding molten glass to orifices which discharge fine glass fibers. The fine glass fibers are in turn wrapped circumferentially around a rotating drum. During the deposition of the fibers on the rotating drum, a thermosetting resin may be applied to the surface to hold the fibers at their overlapping junctions between layers.
The furnace and/or orifices may move longitudinally back and forth along the rotating drum while the drum remains longitudinally stationary during the assembly process. Alternatively, the furnace and orifices may remain stationary while the drum rotates and moves longitudinally back and forth with respect to the stationary furnace.
After a suitable thickness of fibers has been created, the condensed mat may be severed from the drum by, for example, a cut across the mat parallel with the axis of the drum. Thereafter, the condensed mat may be stretched or expanded longitudinally and or latitudinally as desired. The stretched may thereafter optionally be cut to a predetermined size if desired.